Marlow, and potential ups and downs

[Swifty]

Looks like Marlow will be relegated if we beat them tomorrow, which will be a shame as they’re a decent club, and Beano loves the beer in their clubhouse! Wish we could swap them with Woodford United.

 

Fleet Town are also in peril - maybe not so much sympathy for them, though, after their behaviour here in an Aldershot Senior Cup tie some years back - and we’ve yet to play them at home too.

 

Looking at the leagues these teams would / could go down to if they retain their current positions, if we assume the feeder league leaders don’t change and the clubs meet all the requirements, it looks at present like Marlow and Fleet Town would be replaced in our divisions by Guildford City (a resurrected name, good to see football thriving there again, but a horrible soulless stadium when I last visited) and Oxford City Nomads, essentially Quarry Nomads, who used to play on a park pitch and were absorbed into Oxford City. They also play at City’s ground, yet another bland recent build.

 

The only problem I can see with Nomads is that they could be construed as City’s reserve side, and I don’t think reserve teams are allowed at our level, so that may mean promotion for the Hellenic runners-up, likely to be either Ardley United (very handily situated near the M40 in Oxfordshire) or Shortwood United, possibly causing a reshuffle as they’re near Forest Green Rovers and they'd be better suited to the South & West Division.

 

I bet the teams in next season’s Premier Division will enjoy the trip to North Devon to play Bideford, champions elect of the South & West Division. Just shows our committee showed common sense when declining the offer of a place in the Premier Division, as the travel costs would be awful.

[kevchenko]

Hoping for a few goals tomorrow.....PLEASE!!!!

[lazarus]

It won't be Oxford City Nomads as they have not applied for promotion.

 

The clubs to have applied from the Hellenic League are Binfield, Flackwell Heath and Shortwood United.

[Swifty]

Thanks for the clarification, Alan. I'd also forgotten there could be the odd shake-up or reprieve due to clubs folding or being demoted.

 

On another website, a Fleet Town fan's been musing about the problems at boom-and-bust Histon, who need £26,000 just to keep afloat ths season, and speculating whether Histon's downfall could save Fleet if they finish in the bottom two.

[Swifty]

_{A disjointed and very disappointing game. Best part was seeing Graham back on the terraces after his leg op.}

 

_{As well as Dan and Jim, we were missing Russ, Ed, Bairoh, Jack and Sammy, with not even a place on the bench for our two new strikers Matt and Peter. Some were definitely away elsewhere or ill, one or two might have been rested for future games especially as we're now safe. Given that, one or two on the terraces were surprised to see Ashley given the captain's armband instead of Macca or even Weighty, who'd been skipper at the start of the season, and one or two were surprised that Perry and Conor were just subs.}

 

_{The patchwork nature of the team resulted in a side lacking one ot two experienced old heads and which gave plenty of effort but never clicked. We didn't test the Marlow keeper once in the game. At the other end, Marlow went close a couple of times and we had to thank Macca who gave another assured display. If either side looked like scoring, it was Marlow, although they looked a bit dispirited as you can imagine. Although he's definitely more of a midfielder or winger, Alex had a good match at left back, and Josh slotted in and gave Macca a run for man of the match.}

[kevchenko]

No Russ, Bairoh, Ed. Jack, Dan, Jim, Samad or our new strikers Matt / Peter Rapson... Only 4 subs on the bench and a dire a game as you could wish to see........ Macca had 2 saves to make to thier keepers NONE.... Agree with Ed that Alex and Josh played well as indeed did all of the back 4.... My MOM was Mitchell Fountain who showed some nice touches and worked tirelessly for the full 90 minutes....

The pitch didn't help and was bumpy and bobbly, however I think I will save my pennies for next season now if that is the best we can serve up against a team were easily the worst I have seen in the league and I am amazed that they have managed to amass 23 points

 

Yes there was effort and I did stay and clap every player off but very little in the way of good football and certianly no exitement and nothing to sing about.......

Edited April 2, 2012 by kevchenko

[fatboyatmfc]

.

I agree Kev, it was a poor game and its a shame so many of the first eleven were all unavailable at the same time for various reasons as i understand.

However, i thought the effort was there for the full 90, especially Weighty who gave everything and more seeing as he is obviously not fully fit yet for this level.

 

I have to stand up for the team in respect of the quality of football. the pitch played very poorly and when you have to take an extra touch to get the ball under control it is difficult to play flowing stuff that we were seeing from the same players a month or so ago. Last season the pitch was trained on several times in heavy rain and it really took its toll. Slowly Ben the groundsman is getting it back together but it has been exceptionally dry weather and getting water to all areas of the turf has been problematic. Rest assured that with another good break over the pre season we should see a marked improvement on the serface which will help us play the football we are capable of.